Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Cualquier libro sirve. Any book(s) will do.

Se puede comprar en It can be bought in any shop.

cualquier tienda.

El se lleva bien con cualquiera. He gets on with anyone.

Note: Used as an adjective aftera noun, cualquiera means ‘any (at all)’, ‘any (old)’:

un libro cualquiera‘any old book’.

Ambos/as

Always in the plural, it is used especially in the written language as an

adjective or pronoun, to refer to two persons, places or things.

In speech it is usually replaced by los/las dos:

Se discutieron ambas ofertas. Both offers were discussed.

–¿Con cuál de las hermanas ‘Which of the sisters did you

hablaste? talk to?’

–Hablé con las dos. ‘I talked to both of them.’

Cada

Cada is invariable and is used only as an adjective:

Cada número gana un premio. Each/every number wins a

prize.

cada cinco años every five years

Notes:

1 Cada vez másand cada vez menosmean ‘more and more’, ‘less and less’: Es

cada vez menos tolerante‘He is less and less tolerant’.

2 Cada uno/a(also, less commonly, cada cual) means ‘each (one)’: Cada uno

llevaba un banderín ‘Each one carried a pennant’.

9.12

9.11

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

Cada

93

Misuse of ambos

English speakers should avoid the temptation to use ambosas a trans-

lation equivalent to ‘both’ in sequences such as ‘both Carlos and

María’. In this type of case, the word ‘both’ is for emphasis only and

cannot be translated literally: Hablé con Carlos y con María‘I spoke

to both Carlos and María’.